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New Cookie Company Focuses on Fun Flavors, Local Ingredients

LAKEVIEW — Brigid Novak's Lakeview cookie company is based on a simple philosphy: Everyone loves cookies.

"It's kind of like when you were a kid, and you come home and your mom made cookies — it was awesome," said Novak, who sells handmade treats at Heritage Littles and the Low-Line Market.

"There's nothing like having a good, fresh-baked cookie," she said. "You don't see that so much anymore. Everything seems so mass-produced."

The Lakeview baker's Cookieyum company focuses on simple, fresh ingredients and whimsical flavors that her daughters, ages 6 and 9, help concoct.

Favorites have included red velvet, oatmeal banana crunch, Milky Way, Cap'n Crunch and birthday cake. There's no preservatives, and Novak bakes weekly in a shared Ravenswood kitchen.

 Brigid Novak sells homemade treats through Cookieyum.
Brigid Novak sells homemade treats through Cookieyum.
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Cookieyum

The former caterer — who studied psychology before switching gears and heading to culinary school — first started tinkering with cookie recipes after her kids were born.

"It just became a hobby to see how many flavors I could do," Novak said.

Before long, she was selling cookies at local elementary school and Heritage Bikes pop-ups. Husband Jason Novak helped put together a business plan, and Cookieyum was born.

"Who would've thought that 10 years ago cupcakes would blow up the way they did?" Brigid Novak said. "Everywhere you went, there's cupcakes with crazy flavors. ... I wanted to do that with cookies, to show that you can do a wide range of flavors and kind of have fun."

This summer, Novak has become a staple at the Low-Line Market, held Thursday afternoons outside the Southport Brown Line station.

She sets up stop at the base of the stairs and catches commuters with a colorful array of cookies and bright white signs that say "YUM" in black letters. Two-ounce cookies cost $2.50 each, or people can grab three for $6.

Each week, Novak buys fresh fruit and oats from other vendors to incorporate into the next week's cookies. Most recently, she made blueberry sugar cookies with Lyons' Fruit Farm berries.

"It's not just that [the cookies] taste good, but they embody the ethics of our market, where we support local, seasonal, fresh ingredients," market manager Elsa Jacobson said.

Jacobson added that customers have been "euphoric" about Cookieyum, which can be found at Low-Line Market through October 16. After that, Novak said she'll still sell in Heritage Littles, 2868 N. Lincoln Ave.

"My long-term goal is to have a shop, but right now I'm just sort of taking things one day at a time," Novak said. "This is just literally something I love doing. If I could make it into a business, then that's the ultimate dream."

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